DEM not gonna CON dis NATION: Rolling UK politics in the short-lived post-Murdoch era

These whips are issued to MPs in the form of a letter outlining the Parliamentary schedule, with a sentence such as "Your attendance is absolutely essential" next to each debate in which there will be a vote, underlined one, two or three times according to the severity of the whip

I did not know this.

― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Tuesday, 25 October 2011 04:06 (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Neither did I, I always thought it meant 3 lines of Malcom Tuckeresque eviscera expounding on the doom that would befall an MP who voted against the party line.

i always imagined it was like a cat o' nine tails but with only three tails.

assumed it had something to do with cocaine

Yeah, I remember this.

One line is "be there plz"

Two lines is "Be there, unless you are pairing off with someone voting against, in which case say so and whom.

Three lines is "be there unless you are dying, and even then only if the leader says it's ok"

Got taught this at school. Wot are they teeachin' youfs these days?

At my school we learnt the skills that would enable us not to have to slum it as a backbench MP. ;-P

But it's the woo parliamentary sports fans (Nick Robinson et al) who frame these stories for the rest of us, and if those guys start thinking "sinking ship" it will come through in news stories, the tone of which I think that can have very serious consequences for a party's electability.

This won't happen properly until such time as the press decide they want Cameron to lose. Editors have to make a policy decision to start really shitting on him, as they did with Major and Brown. Don't see that happening with Cam for a while, partly because those editors that backed him last year will look like clowns.

Also this sort of posturing over the EU will help rebel Tory MPs more than it hinders them at the next election, especially if said MPs will be hit by boundary changes in the meantime.

I don't know about that, who else are Eurosceptic Tory voters going to vote for anyway? UKIP? Not in a general election.

It'll help if they're in competition with a less anti-European Tory MP for the nomination in a redrawn constituency.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/8849420/Give-firms-freedom-to-sack-unproductive-workers-leaked-Downing-Street-report-advises.html

:O

Mr Beecroft concedes that a “downside” under his new scheme is that employers could fire staff because they “did not like them”.

“While this is sad I believe it is a price worth paying for all the benefits that would result from the change”, he says.

the beginning of the end

even the daily mail comments box is angered by this, at least

MPs voting this thru wd be like turkeys voting for christmas

employers are left fearful of expanding because new staff may prove “unknown quantities”

The only venture capitalist ever to disagree with the philosophy of "speculate to accumulate"?

assume this is the old "leak Libertarian nutbar plan that we know will never get thru parliament then hit up parliament with some 'moderate' reductions in worker rights that sail straight thru" shuffle

“While this is sad I believe it is a price worth paying for all the benefits that would result from the change”, he says.

I thought the Government was going to abolish benefits.

the job-creators can only create jobs if they can get rid of jobs

assume this is the old "leak Libertarian nutbar plan that we know will never get thru parliament then hit up parliament with some 'moderate' reductions in worker rights that sail straight thru" shuffle

^this

If anyone out there seriously believes this will only affect 'unproductive' workers then they'll believe any old shit. You can sack unproductive workers already if you can prove they're unproductive.

I'd have been sacked from my current job if this legislation was already on the books.

I found it interesting that the Eurosceptics being interviewed on R4 earlier this week used as their first argument the idea that EU regulations were stifling growth. Of all the things they might object to, workers' rights are top of the list. These, of course, being the same people who spent the past three decades arguing for less and less regulation on, say, the financial industry, which worked out brilliantly.

assume this is the old "leak Libertarian nutbar plan that we know will never get thru parliament then hit up parliament with some 'moderate' reductions in worker rights that sail straight thru" shuffle

http://cache.dealbreaker.com/uploads/2010/11/drudge-siren1.gif Attention, this overton window is shifting. Attention, this overton window is shifting. http://cache.dealbreaker.com/uploads/2010/11/drudge-siren1.gif

Yeah it's nonsense, they're not even thinking, it's just either ideological blinkers or just pure cynicism. The thing that's stifling growth is lack of demand and/or confidence and making it easier to sack people won't do anything to change that.

And, y'know, a global financial crisis.

I reckon blinkers... and pigheaded stupidity (xp)

I was leaning towards pure cynicism myself but hey.

You know how you find out about kids, not by what they own and play with, but what they have on their List for Santa?

that.

huh, weird, the thing I've liked about SecretSundaze the few times I've gone is that the crowd being older means less

assume this is the old "leak Libertarian nutbar plan that we know will never get thru parliament then hit up parliament with some 'moderate' reductions in worker rights that sail straight thru" shuffle

ding ding ding ding ding

haha what the hell happened to that post

I think it got interrupted by a fire alarm.

Prime Minister David Cameron will not be going to the Rio+20 Summit in Brazil next year despite his pledge to lead the "greenest ever government".

The meeting will mark 20 years since the seminal Earth Summit of 1992, and is regarded as a chance for leaders to put humanity on a sustainable track.

But the June date clashes with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee.

Fox on the Run

SIR – Your letters on the EU are really arguing for a revolution right now: dumping the Coalition Government, parking David Cameron in the Tower, and taking back power by the people.

I would be pleased to lead this movement if nobody else better qualified can be found – which should not be hard, since I am on the cusp of my 88th year and spend most of my time in my garden.

Lord Walsingham
Merton, Norfolk

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/8850755/The-logic-of-the-euro-crisis-is-the-forging-of-a-single-European-state.html

is this the most daily telegraph-y daily telegraph letter ever?

:D

<3

No, this is: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/relationships/8078323/Can-I-date-a-girl-who-embodies-everything-I-thought-I-hated.html

OMG surely not real

"yours, j. rees-mogg"

Chap calling for end to employment rights doles out high-interest loans to the poor:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-donors-bid-to-curb-job-security-provokes-lib-dem-anger-2376461.html

Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has claimed £535,000 of taxpayers' money over the last five years, government records have shown.

Baroness Thatcher, 86, who makes rare public appearances and suffers poor health, was paid from the public duties cost allowance available to ex-PMs.

ebay handbag binge

We're all in this together

pay equality -> doing it wrong

http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2011/10/cameron-reduce-executive-pay-by-appointing-more-women/#axzz1c4xbPPF3

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v165/noodle_vague/gaycam.png

i like how my isp decided to run this story alongside a pic of Cam getting a blow job

"putting the pressure on" = not giving them a discount for cash on water cannons.

Prince Charles getting to review laws that could affect his interests, then. That makes sense. Good job, lawmakers.

i don't suppose he has his name on any hospitals he could ringfence, no

http://i.imgur.com/D2DbX.png